Roth Succumbs to the Power of the KronnerBurger; Bauer Says Adesso Has Slipped; Tsai’s Not a Fan of Loring Café

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Anna Roth submits a review this week of KronnerBurger (2379 Mission Street), that actually pretty awesome burger pop-up from chef Chris Kronner, living for the time being in the side bar area at Bruno’s (it’s forced to close on Saturdays so that Bruno’s can have the space for a dancefloor). She says the burger “has all the flavors of a great drive-in burger,” and she loves that it’s served “cold-in-the-center rare.” She also likes bar consultant Gabriel Lowe’s “Carbonated Motherfucking Margarita,” which comes by the pitcher, even though she couldn’t detect the carbonation; and the rich poutine, topped with excellent beef-cheek gravy. She does, however, quibble with the burger’s signature saltiness, saying that it could be toned down a touch. [SF Weekly]

Michael Bauer swings back by Oakland’s Adesso, and it sounds like it might lose its place on the Top 100 this year, like a few other spots he’s been swinging back to. He finds that the salumi selection, once 40 house-made salumis and pates strong, is now down to a mere sixteen, and he says the focus of the place has been “diluted” with the addition of pizza. Also, he’s not a fan of the pizza, saying it “tasted premade, with a stiff cardboard-y crust and dull-tasting toppings.” The cocktails are still on point, he says, and what salumi there is is still “outstanding.” We can’t tell you what the star rating is, however, because the web versions of his reviews on the newly paywalled Chron site remain a bit wonky, and this one has no stars. You can however read it for free, as Bauer continues to link to the reviews from the blog using Twitter-enabled links that get you around that pesky paywall. [Chron]

And also in the East Bay, Luke Tsai submits the first review of Minneapolis-born Loring Café, which just debuted in February. He says the eclectic, “old-timey carnival” design of the space and the staff’s outfits are “slightly tacky and completely over the top,” with “what might be the gaudiest restaurant bathroom in the Bay Area.” Tsai also is unimpressed with the “Bohemian fine dining” fare by chef-owner Jason McLean. He writes, “Most of the dishes at Loring Cafe are more or less what you might expect to be served at a ‘bohemian’ restaurant: everything a little bit weird and overpriced, and not much of it any good.” He says the lamb kebabs and hot artichoke dip are fine, and decent options at happy hour, but everything else just kind of pisses him off. He concludes, kind of angrily, “If you’re going to open a rather expensive restaurant in one of the most prominent spots in the city’s trendiest foodie neighborhood, your food had better be on point. In this town, you can do far, far better.” [EBX]